Japanese Samurai surrender sword from WWII brings $7,538 at Mohawk ArmsA Samurai sword surrendered by Japanese Rear Admiral Nobukagu Yoshimi on the Marshall Islands in 1945 sold for $7,538 at a live and Internet sale that ended Nov. 16-17 by Mohawk Arms, Inc.

News-Antique.com - Dec 18,2012 - (BOUCKVILLE, N.Y.) – A Samurai sword surrendered by Japanese Rear Admiral Nobukagu Yoshimi on the Marshall Islands in 1945, plus an archive of material pertaining to the soldier’s surrender, sold for $7,538 at a live and Internet sale that ended Nov. 16-17 by Mohawk Arms, Inc. The live auction was held at Mohawk Arms’ Bouckville gallery, in central New York.

Accepting Yoshimi’s surrender was Lt. Commander Wagner Mahlon Dickerson of the USS Baron. In addition to the Samurai sword, the lot also featured a copy of the log of the USS Baron for that day (Aug. 6, 1945), photos showing Yoshimi surrendering to Dickerson, a letter written by Yoshimi in September 1945 offering thanks for food and medical aid, and other items.

Less than 50 people made it to the event in person – fairly typical for a Mohawk Arms sale – but a few made the trip from as far away as Moscow, Russia and Calgary, Canada. “We may only get 30 or 40 people at any given sale, but I guarantee you every single one’s a buyer,” said Raymond Zyla of Mohawk Arms, Inc. “Many are repeat clients – very serious collectors.”

The major bidding action, though, took place online (with Internet bidding facilitated by LiveAuctioneers.com). There were around 450 registered bidders, from around the world, and Mr. Zyla said the phone and absentee bidding component was quite active, too. “It was a solid auction. Collectors are conservative right now, but if they see a piece they like, they’ll buy it.”

The auction was packed with ethnographic items, headgear, edged weapons, uniforms, swords, art, exotica, Americana, decorative veterans’ flags, military steins, medals, books, pistols and more. A good percentage of the top lots were from the headgear and exotica categories. Of the 25 lots that hammered for $1,500 or more, more than half were from headgear and exotica.

Following are additional highlights from the sale. All prices quoted include a 17.5 percent buyer’s premium (for sales under $2,000), 15 percent (for sales of $2,000-$5,000) or 12.5 percent (for sales of $5,000-$10,000).

A Knights Cross of the Iron Cross – a military award issued by Nazi Germany during World War II – showing a high relief swastika and the date (1939), with black leatherette case, changed hands for $6,750. Also, Japanese Rt. Gen. Hatazo Adachi’s Samurai surrender sword from World War II, made in 1942, with other items relating to the surrender, garnered $6,469.

The Allgemeine SS peaked cap of Dr. Rudolf Jacobsen, Commander of the Totenkopf Division stationed at Dachau, Germany in World War II and a member of the Race & Settlement Department of the SS High Command, fetched $4,945; and a black wool SS overcoat with a twisted wire cord piped collar, in exceptional condition except for a moth hole, realized $3,680.

A World War II German sniper’s veil, a well-made one-piece face mask, possibly one of the first such veils to be made and believed to be from the development and production of face masks